Case Study: Christmas blues
When it comes down to it not many people celebrate Christmas all that differently; good food, presents and family being the basic fundamentals to most Christmas celebrations. In my case, Christmas has always been a time of year where I basically make a recluse of myself for a week or two and enjoy that time with my family. To be honest though, as much as I revel in that security, I sort of took it for granted as well.
I got off the bus to Galway on Saturday to see some friends of mine before the holidays. See some friends I did, and we had a fall-asleep-on-the-floor-at-five-in-the-morning-whilst-spooning-a-stuffed-camel kind of night, which is what I’ve come to expect, really. A few things happened though thereafter that made me realise what a lucky sod I was.
By the end of the weekend most of my friends had gone home, and the fella with whom I was staying went home for a few days before coming back up again. Fair enough you might say, no big deal, having a house to oneself is no complaint, and I still knew a few people about. By Tuesday though, my phone was near deaths door, to the point where I was switching it on every so often just to see if I’d been contacted but quickly switching it off again lest it die totally. My credit was also tapped out, which left me using something I thought I’d never have to use: a payphone. Apparently they haven’t gone the way of the dodo just yet, and for those few (bloody expensive) minutes I was damn glad of it, proving quite handy in arranging meeting times and ringing home.
With my phone dead I was therefore un-contactable, so the friend who I was meeting couldn’t tell me he was running slightly late. It’s probably just as well though; as for those few minutes a lot was going through my mind. Without sounding as if my life had turned into a Gilbert O’Sullivan song, at that moment I was unable to contact anybody and vice versa, most of my friends were gone home and I was sitting alone in a crowded pub. At that point, I started feeling pretty humble. I’m a very lucky man when I it comes down to it, I have great family and friends, I’ve had some amazing opportunities and I haven’t exactly had a huge amount of adversity to overcome. And even though my loneliness was extremely temporary and frankly minor, I couldn’t help but think of those people out there who deal with that feeling on a daily basis, and how difficult it is for them coming up to the festive season.
Christmas is a fun time for most, absolutely, but that’s exactly the reason why it sometimes serves to heighten unhappiness. If you’ve had a year where you’ve undergone tough times, like losing a family member, if you’ve been feeling depressed or indeed alone, the last thing you want is to celebrate a joyous occasion.
Most of us will be incomprehensively lucky this Christmas, to celebrate it with our close friends and family, but make sure to spare a thought for those who aren’t so lucky.
